Prince of Courage in Equestria
by jhasd12
Summary: Naruto, an eight year-old boy, has endured a lot in his life. But his latest beating brought him on the brink of death, luckily a certain princess was able to save him before that happened. Read as Naruto leads a new life as a prince.
1. New Home (Revised)

**Hello my favorite little readers, I'm sorry haven't been around. I blame myself, laziness, and writer's block, but mostly pure laziness. Anyways, hope you enjoy the fic!**

**Naruto x My Little Pony**

**Summary: **Princess Celestia grows tired of her student always reading books and not going out and play. About to get her student to make friends, she encounters a horrifying scene.

**(REVISED: FEBRUARY 16, 2014: 10:50 A.M.)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or My Little Pony, they go to their rightful owners.**

**STORY STARTS NOW****  
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><p><em><strong>CHAPTER 1: New Home<strong>_

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><p>"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to isolate her from her family." Princess Celestia mutters to herself as she watches as a little filly leave her library.<p>

The filly in question has a pale, light grayish mulberry coat with a small horn on her head. She has moderate sapphire blue mane with moderate violet and brilliant rose streaks. Her horn glowing light pale grayish orchid and a book floating with the same color. On her flank was a pink six-pointed star surrounded by several smaller stars.

"Twilight, can I see you for a minute?" Celestia asked.

The filly, now named, Twilight looked away from her book and up to her mentor. "Yes Princess Celestia, do you need me for something?" walking over to the white mare.

"Why don't you go outside for some fresh air, staying inside isn't good for your health." she says, "I think you-"

"You're right Princess."Twilight says interrupting her.

"I am?" Twilight surprised her when she agreed to what she said, then again she probably misinterpreted it.

"Yes, I'm going to read out in the garden, the fresh air might be able to help me clear my mind on this book." with that Twilight sprinted to the gardens.

"Wait! Twilight that's not what I meant." but the Princess's words weren't heard as the door leading outside already closed.

Celestia sighed in defeat, "What am I going to do with her?" looking at the direction her student went.

"If she won't try to make friends then I would make her." she says with determination, with that she heads to outside to Twilight.

As Celestia was about to go outside, in the corner of her eyes she sees one of the rooms start to glow. She cautiously walks to the room, her horn glowing a very light shade of gold.

Opening the door, she gasps in shock. Because in the center of the room is a mirror emitting light. "That's not supposed to happen for at least another couple of weeks." She couldn't get over the fact that the portal to other worlds is open.

The light from the mirror slowly dissipates, the Princess sees a village and a mountain with four faces. **(AN: I think you know where I'm getting at.)**She sees weird creatures walking only on their hind legs as if it were second nature to them, from the way their body structure is, they do.

A large group of them huddled around in a circle cheering, brought her out of her thoughts. "What's this?" She uses her magic to make the mirror/portal close in on the group. **"Help me." **The sudden voice made her jump slightly, and quickly thought it was coming from the center of the group. Once she got close enough to find out what they're cheering about, it shocked her to the core.

In the center of the group is a smaller creature, probably the same age as a colt, being brutally tortured . The colt has spiky sun-kissed-blond mane with ocean blue eyes. She grows increasingly angry at every kick that hits the colt.

Finally having enough of this abuse, she goes through the portal not thinking that she might get stuck there. All Celestia can think of right now was saving the young creature.

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><p>-XXXX-<p>

_**(One hour before)**_

A young 8 year-old boy was sitting at the swing near the Academy. The boy's name is Naruto Uzumaki, he harbors Kurama or as others know it as the Nine-Tailed Fox. Oh, he knows he holds something, considering that everyone calls him a demon fox and that he was born in the same day at the same night Kurama attacked. He remembers meeting the giant fox a year ago on one of his more brutal beatings.

_**(Flashback- 1 Year Ago)**_

"_Ugh," said Naruto as he rub to sooth his throbbing head. "What happened?"_

_He looks around after he regains his bearings and notices that he's in a sewer._

"_Great, they threw in the sewers again, though it doesn't seem like a part that I know of." he said as he scans the room for something to familiarize his location, but couldn't recall anything._

_With a sigh, he starts walking through the corridors. After what seemed like hours of reaching dead ends, he gave up after coming across a large room with an enormous gate with a piece of paper at the center._

"_Hello?" hoping that someone was here and ask if he could help him get out._

_His voice echoed throughout the sewer, he thought it was kind of fun and wanted to do it again. That thought stopped when two big red orbs with slits open behind the giant gates. He was about to run a seeing the frightening eyes._

"_**I'm very sorry." **That stopped him in his tracks, and looks at the eyes in confusion._

_Cautiously, he starts walking towards the gates. As he gets closer, the light started to show a giant fox with nine tails._

"_Why are you sorry?"Naruto asked._

"_**I'm the reason your life is horrible." **the fox said._

_It starts talking about how it got sealed in him._**(AN: you know how the story goes , if you don't then shame on you.)**

"_**The seal worked so you could get access to my chakra, but the Fourth Hokage messed up on the last hand seal and not only did the seal give most of my chakra, it gave you two other benefits that you shouldn't have." **The fox said after it told the boy its story._

_Naruto stared at the fox with a clueless expression, the Nine-Tails groaned when it saw his stupid expression. **"Ugh, I forgot I'm talking to a child. How about perks?" **_

_It received another stare, **"Hmm, how about special things?**_

"_If I got a few _"special things"_ from you, what are they?" Naruto questioned wanting to know what he got._

_The fox scratches its' chin before answering, **"Well, you get increased senses better than an Inuzuka like sight, smell, and sound and you gain my ability to sense negative emotions."**_

"_What do you mean negative emotions?" the sense enhancement kind of made sense,but ._

"_**Exactly what I mean, you will be able to sense negative emotions like hate, guilt, embarrassment, and despair, to name a few." **The giant fox clarified._

"_**It seems that you're waking up," **noticing that Naruto's form was starting to disappear after an hour of talking. **"It was nice talking to you Naruto."**_

_Naruto gave the fox the fox a true smile, instead of the ones he shows around the village. "It was nice meeting you too, Mr. Nine-Tails." he was happy that he now has someone to call a friend. The word _"friend" _made him even more happy._

"_**The names Kurama, boy, Nine-Tails is just a title." **Kurama said with slightest smile._

"_Then, see ya next time, Kurama" as his body disappeared and out into the real world._

"_**Thanks for forgiving this fox, I'll always help when I can" **Kurama said, but no one was there to hear it._

_**(Flashback End)**_

Naruto didn't realize that he started walking back to his apartment during his flashback. Feeling killing intent surround him brought him out of his thoughts.

"You die today you DEMON!" shouted one of the villagers. There were roughly around 20 or 30. Most of them were villagers, and the rest were either ninjas and the ANBU that were supposed to protect him from this sort of thing.

They were about to attack the boy, one villagers said something. "WAIT!" Everyone looked at the person in question.

"What if he tells the Hokage? We all know that he favors the demon more." They all stop to think what the guy said and realized that he was right. Their leader would sooner listen to the brat than them. Naruto started to have hope when he might be able to get out this alive, but that hope shattered when another one spoke.

"Don't worry, there's way to many of us for him to memorize all of our faces." one of the villagers said trying to assure to others that there is nothing to worry about. "Though after we're done with him he might not even be able to remember anything at all."

That was all the people needed to hear as they started maim the child. About an hour has passed, but to Naruto it felt like a day has gone by.

They took a step back to admire their work. They started to cheer as they saw the completely bloody mess.

"Help me." Naruto in a jagged whisper, in a last-ditch effort for anyone to help him then he succumb to his wounds. He didn't know that his wish was heard, but couldn't see what transpired next.

-XXXX-

"**WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THIS YOUNG COLT!" **Celestia shouted using the old Royal Canterlot Voice to show how pissed she was right now.

The villagers got pushed back by the sheer force of the voice coming from the horse?

"Ok, is anyone else freaked out that the horse just talked." All the villagers nodded, but the ninjas weren't since they thought it was a summon.

"**I DEMAND YOU TELL ME WHY YOU'RE HURTING THIS FOAL!" **Even more pissed about the horse comment. Her eyes and horn started to glow, ready to fight these barbarians.

Everyone had to cover their ears to prevent them from going deaf. "What was that?!"

The only rational answer they could come up with was that the demon summoned it. Even though she looks like a benevolent being, no benevolent being has the kind of voice.

"It's the demon, he summoned it!" one villager shouted. Everyone barely manage to hear due to their ears still ringing, but heard it nonetheless.

"Everyone kill it!" another shouted.

Celestia has grown tired of their shouting and used her magic to make beams of light to kill them, being careful as not to hit the boy. Even though she hates killing, she has no sympathy for foal beaters.

The villagers stood no chance while the ninjas were able to avoid being killed they lost a limb in the process. Celestia levitated Naruto to her and was about to leave for the portal not caring about the pain-filled screams that reached her ears.

It wasn't long before the Third Hokage, in his battle gear, arrived at the spot. He arrived just in time to see Naruto being taken by a horse?

"Halt! Put Naruto down now!" Hiruzen shouted to Celestia.

Celestia stopped to look at Hiruzen. "Are you the leader of this village?" she said in a cold tone. '_So Naruto is his name, what an interesting name.' _she thought before she turned her attention back to Hiruzen.

Hiruzen took a step back from the coldness of her tone, a tone that could probably freeze Madara Uchiha's strongest fire jutsu.

"Y-yes." he managed to say.

"Then you are not worthy to bear that title if you let **FOAL BEATERS RUN AMOK!" **Celestia said, while shouting the last part. Her magical aura was so strong that the ground was starting to shake violently.

"I know I'm no longer worthy of "leader" I have grown weak due to old age, I'm no longer worthy of the title 'God of Shinobi'. I have made far too many mistakes during the boy's life, I failed his father, my predecessor, in more ways than one. I can't even tell him who his parents are because they have made many enemies during the Third Great Ninja War." he was close to tears as he said all that.

Celestia's magic dissipated slowly during his speech. "While I do not approve of your actions, at least you have good intentions for the boy." she gave him a small smile before frowning. "Though I will still take him with me to keep him safe from this _village_." she said the word village like it was poison in her mouth.

Hiruzen flinched before answering her, "Even though his parents love this village, they would want to have their son safe from harm." Hiruzen then pulled three scrolls from his cloak and tossed it to Celestia. She levitated the scrolls for her to see only to realize that she couldn't read the language. "The first is on how to unlock his chakra network and some exercises , the second one is the **Shadow clones**, the third is his one of his father's signature moves the **Rasengan**. I would give you his father's other signature move but the house that it was in was completely burned down during the Nine-Tails' attack."

Celestia nodded her head to him, and made her way towards her home and get Naruto treatment.

-XXXX-

After crossing the portal, she set Naruto down to inspect his injuries. Seeing a child as young as him infuriated Celestia. She suddenly sensed malicious energy from Naruto or more specifically his stomach.

Quickly opening his tattered clothes, the markings he had on his stomach made her think it might resemble as a cutie mark. She decided to greet the boy in his mind rather than wake him up, it might also to the source of his mistreatment.

_**(Mind scape)**_

Celestia awoke in a dungeon of sorts or is it more like a sewer. She immediately sensed where the dark energy was coming from and made her way towards it as fast as possible.

Seeing gigantic gates shocked her and was even more shocked at seeing a giant fox the size of a mountain. "Excuse me, Mr. Fox but did you see a blond colt around here?" She politely asked as the fox hasn't shown any hostility towards her.

Kurama turned his attention to the royal pony, **"Thank you for protecting him, he doesn't deserve that kind of treatment. This is all my fault, if I wasn't under that goddamn illusion, his life wouldn't be like this."**

Celestia pitied the giant creature, but still wanted her question answered. "Yes, we shall talk about that later, but for now where is the colt?"

Kurama lifted one of his tails so she can see that Naruto was resting on one of the tails. **"Now on to business then," **Kurama explained to her that he used the little bits of its' chakra to try to find someone who will treat the boy right.

"So the reason the portal before it's time was you?" She said as more like a statement rather than a question.

"**Yes, but enough of that the boy is still in critical condition. Even if the boy looks alright in here, he's dying outside. He lost too much blood already."**

That statement shocked Celestia, she didn't think that he was in such a horrible position right now. It made her sad that she has to see somepony die so young. She never thought that she'd see the day in her life..

"Is there any way to save him?" she asked desperately. It hurt her to think on it, this feeling reminded her of the time when she had to seal away her sister.

"**There is a way." **Celestia flew to the fox's face and tell her how she could save him. **"You have to do a blood ritual. It is the only way to save Naruto's life."**

Celestia didn't know Kurama that much, but she could definitely tell that it wanted to save the child's life.

"What do I have to do?" for the next few hours, Kurama instructed her on how to do the ritual, or else it will fail completely. Since time in the mind is different from it is in the real world, they could spend the next hour doing nothing and it would only be about half a minute in the real world.

"It's done." Celestia took a step back to allow Kurama to inspect the seals on the ground for any faults because if there is the slightest mistake then it would be all for naught.

After Kurama finished inspecting the seal for any faults after finding none it placed Naruto in the middle of the circle.

"**Hmph! For a pony that doesn't have hands, you sure do have some good handwriting." **Kurama said jokingly to the princess.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Kurama looked at her quizzically. "I mean wouldn't be better if I did this in the physical world."

"**Oh, don't worry about that I linked his mental state so that what happens in here will happen to him out there."** Kurama reassured her doubts, but was greatly surprised that the fox could do that.

"How could you do that?" Celestia was truly astonished. "How could you be able to connect his physical state and mental state as if it was one?"

"**The only reason I could do that is because he let me." **what he said confused Celestia greatly. Kurama saw this and elaborated. **"Naruto gave me permission that I could do what ever I want, which proved to be greatly needed as you can see. On top of that, I've been sealed before so it wasn't really that hard to change it . The only reason I wasn't able to affect my previous hosts is because I was chained." **(AN: I know the reason doesn't make sense, but just bear with me and go with it. Hell even I didn't even understand what I wrote. Besides this is my story, I can do what I want.)

Celestia nodded her head before cutting herself and let the red liquid drip on to the seal. The seal glowed red before the markings started to make their way towards Naruto. She grew concerned as Naruto writhe in pain on the floor of the mind scape.

What she saw next astounded her, she watched as Naruto begin to change. His nose started to elongate into a muzzle. His fingers receded and formed into hooves. His entire body morphed from a bipedal creature to quadrupeds and an orange coat. He grew wings on his sides and a horn on his head, but what surprised Celestia was his flank, it had _her_ cutie mark but in the center instead of the yellow circle it had a red spiral

After a few minutes of screaming he mellowed down till the now colt was sleeping soundly.

Naruto woke up from his slumber and sees a pony with a unicorn with wings or a Pegasus with a horn.

"Uh, Kurama who is that?" he said as he tried to stand up but found it difficult. He looked down at his feet only to find it wasn't his feet.

"AHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed as he waved him arm, technically now legs, around.

"Calm down Naruto, everything will be explained shortly." Celestia said trying to calm the colt down.

Naruto tried to back away from the pony but slipped on the floor. "Calm down, CALM DOWN!? Look at me, I'm not human anymore."

He broke down and sobbed, "They'll definitely will see I'm a monster now."

"You are not a monster!" Celestia went over to Naruto and hugged him. "All I see is a colt that had a terrible life, but don't worry I'm here to make all go away."

Naruto stopped crying and looked up at the pony "Really?" he asked with a lot of hope.

Celestia nodded her head in assurance. "Thank you, Ms. Horn-winged pony." Celestia gave a light giggle as she let him go.

"My name is Celestia, Princess Celestia of Equestria." Naruto looked at her in awe.

"Wow, I didn't know you were a princess. It must be nice being royalty." he said in small amount of sadness.

"Yes well you're one now too if you look closely." she said cryptically.

Naruto looked at her questioningly. Kurama and Celestia began to explain to him what happened while he was unconscious.

"So I'm now a- what do you call it again?" He asked Celestia.

"It's pronounced Alicorn, Naruto."

He nodded to her in thanks, "then apparently you had to do a blood ritual to save my life." He turned to Celestia as he said that.

They nodded their heads saying he was right. "Then does that mean-"

He left his words hanging hoping that what he was thinking was true.

Celestia nodded her head to Naruto indicating he was right and smiled at him. "Yes, I'm now your mother."

The orange colt tackled her into a hug, she felt her chest get wet and immediately thought that Naruto was crying, so she hugged him whispering soothing words into his ear.

After a few minutes of crying, he finally let go of his new mother. Mother. That one word filled his heart with more joy than when he met Kurama. Not that he disliked Kurama, he just wanted to have a family that he never got the chance to have.

"Come along now, you've a whole new life ahead of you." Naruto nodded his head in excitement, and both Alicorn's disappeared from the mind scape. They never realize that one of Kurama's tails was slowly disappearing.

"_**It's only a matter of time, sorry I can't stay any longer Naruto. I hope you have happy life when I'm gone." **_Kurama stared at his tails sadly before he slept thinking on what he will say to Naruto when it's gone.

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><p><em><strong>CHAPTER 1 END<strong>_

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><p>LIKE IT, REVIEW IT.<p>

Constructive Criticism is much appreciated. Anything that will help me be a better writer.


	2. Trouble in the Hospital (Revised)

**Hello again my little readers, I have brought you yet another chapter. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimers: I do not own Naruto or My Little Pony, they go to their rightful owners.**

**All right, I hope I took care of the grammar problem, if there's something I missed please notify me.**

**REVISED: FEBRUARY 15, 2014. 9:56 A.M.**

**Chapter 2: Trouble in the hospital!**

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><p><strong>(The Next Day after Chapter 1)<strong>

The first thing Naruto thought when he gets a new home was going out to make friend, but he didn't expect two guards to tie him up just so he would go to the hospital. The HOSPITAL. Can you believe it?

His mother said that he will visit the hospital for a check up for anything wrong, he stated that he was fine and she shouldn't worry much about his health.

But Celestia wouldn't have any of it, so he tried to run away but tripped still not used to his new body. He could walk just fine, but running still needed some practice. She had two guards bring him to the hospital tied up for when he tried to run away again and watch him carefully. The two guards were so similar in appearance that Naruto thought they were twins.

They both have blue manes and tails with cyan eyes and a white coat. They both wore similar armor down to the blue star on their chests.

He asked if they were siblings, but they denied it saying that it's only a coincidence. Celestia told them to watch her son carefully because he might try to run away again.

It stunned the two Pegasus guards that their Princess has a son that nopony ever knew, one look from their princess was all they need to snap out of their small trance, and quickly carried out their orders.

Naruto tried to get out of his binds, while protesting that he was fine. Even though he was now their prince, they still will follow her orders over his.

"Sorry my prince, but your mother's word is absolute. Even if our lives depend on it, you will go to the hospital as per orders." said one of the guards, which he will dub Twin 1, as he carried the new prince to the hospital while his fellow guard paying close attention to Naruto.

"Your highness, if I may ask." Twin 2 trying to get the prince's attention.

Naruto stopped struggling for a minute to look at Twin 2.

"If you're the Princess's son, then where were you all these years?" he asked, Twin 1 glanced at the prince also wanting know the reason for his sudden appearance.

Naruto was slightly sweating, because he didn't think they would ask that kind of question. "Um, I think mom would explain it to everyone in due time." He got confused looks from the "twins" and immediately figured out what he did wrong. "I meant pony, everypony in due time."

Celestia taught him a bit of the culture of this world and that some words here were change to correspond with the inhabitants. Like somebody, would replace with somepony, and hands got replaced with hooves. UGH! These grammars were confusing to him, but his mother said he will grow accustomed to them in time.

Satisfied with his answer, the guards left the matter alone knowing that their Princess will do just that and continued their way to hospital ignoring the looks they were receiving from the citizens of Canterlot and the continued struggle of the blond prince.

-XXXX-

When the three got to the hospital, a light red mare with a darker shade red mane greeted them. On her flank was green cross sign with a heart symbol overlapping the cross.

The mare walked towards them, "Welcome to the HeartCruz Hospital. My name is Dr. Jane Healers. How may I help you gentle-ponies today?" she said with a smile.

"Well Ms. Healers, my partner and I are here on orders from the Princess to have this colt here for a check up for any signs of injuries." Twin 1 said as he gestured his back without looking.

Jane looked at his back to see the colt, but what she saw didn't amuse her and was slightly annoyed thinking they were making fun of her skills as a doctor.

"Is this some kind of joke?" the doctor said in a low tone that promised pain if they don't answer correctly.

Twin 1 raised his left eyebrow in confusion, "What are you talking about Ms. Healers?" he didn't know what got her peeved. One minute she was smiling at them and the next she scowled.

Twin 2 looked at Twin 1's back and nearly busted in a fit of laughter, but recomposed himself as his thoughts went on their new prince. He used his hoof to get his attention, once he does he points to Twin 1's back.

Twin 1 took a look at his back, and became shocked beyond belief. He was so shocked that he comically turned to stone with sounds of lightning coming down from the background. On his back was a sack of potatoes with four sticks at the corners as make-shift legs and another stick pointing upwards piercing an orange as a make-shift head.

Twin 1 began to think of what the Princess might do to him for losing her son.

_**(Twin 1's Imagination)**_

_Celestia was sitting at her throne after being explained that her son was missing._

"_So let me get this straight. You arrived at the hospital and at that moment you _lost _him." she said as she narrowed her eyes at her guard._

_Twin 1 was shaking uncontrollably, his throat was so dry that he couldn't speak at all, so he answered with a nod._

"_I see," she closed her eyes for a moment to assess the situation. When she opened them they were glowing. **"GUARDS! CEASE THIS FOAL FOR LOSING MY SON!" **_

_Several guards came rushing in to apprehend the former guard._

"_Wait! You don't understand, I-" in the act of being tackled, he was incapable of finishing his argument._

"_Understand? Oh, I understand. I understand that you **TOOK YOUR EYES OFF OF HIM WHEN I SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU TO WATCH HIM CAREFULLY!**" as she used the Royal Canterlot Voice at the last sentence._

_Celestia took a deep breath and calmed down a little, but still had a neutral expression. "For your years of service, I'll give lenience with your punishment."_

_Twin 1 looked surprised as he stopped struggling. "Really?"_

"_**OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" **The guards holding Twin 1 removed his helmet ready to execute him._

"_I though you said you would __show lenience in my punishment." he said, trying to reason with the Princess._

"_I am. I'm not having you thrown in the dungeon and be tortured for the rest of your days right?"she said like it was the simplest answer in the world._

_Twin 1 didn't get to reply as a pony with a black cloth over his head raised an axe ready to cut him in half._

_**(Twin 1's Imagination End)**_

Twin 2 smacked his helmet so hard that everypony in the hall stopped what they were doing to look at the commotion.

"Pull yourself together, Soldier! He couldn't have gotten far." he said trying to calm down the hysteric pony. It seemed to work as he began to breathe normally.

They began to look around hoping to find the wayward prince. They hear something counting quietly around the corner. They slowly made their way towards the sound to find the orange Alicorn practicing running.

"1, 2, 3, 4 Run!" "1, 2, 3, 4 Run!" Naruto has been practicing his running ever since he got out of his bindings using his teeth, which has been for couple minutes. He would've went back to the castle, but he didn't know where to find it. **(AN: He doesn't know what the outside looks like.) **Not only that he didn't want to disappoint his new mother for disobeying her orders, because he feared that she might throw him out for it.

The two guards looked at each other before making their way to him quietly.

Hearing clopping sounds, Naruto turned around. When he spotted the familiar golden armor, he made a break for it. Playing the rhythm in his head as he got farther away from his "captors". Leaving a small dust trail behind him. Not bad for a human turned pony just yesterday, huh?

The guards didn't even process what they saw until he was far away. They shook their heads and began their chase.

**(Cue: Benny Hill Theme)**

Naruto was running towards one of the rooms that a nurse had open. As soon as he got in immediately closed it.

The nurse stood on her hind legs when somepony ran into the room she was about to go into.

Twin 1 and 2 got to the door where they thought they saw him go in. They quickly opened the door to find a vacant room with a nurse inside.

They closed the door not knowing Naruto was hanging on a coat behind the door.

Naruto's head popped out of a corner and looked around trying to spot his chasers not seeing them he thought they left. He suddenly got tapped on his back.

Turning around, the two ponies were smirking at him. He smiled nervously, sprinted to another room and they quickly followed.

At this time, Jane came back to question the two guards on the colt. She didn't know whether to laugh, get mad, or just plain confused. Laugh, because they were unable to catch somepony so young. Mad, because they were basically slamming the doors that will undoubtedly wake up sleeping patients. Because what she's seeing right is the two guards running in and out of rooms trying to catch an orange Alicorn. Wait a minute, rewind that, an Alicorn?

She looked closely at the orange colt to see he does have both a horn and wings. She promptly fainted due to seeing something incredible. Another Alicorn, a MALE one at that.

Twins 1 and 2 were running so fast that they completely missed Naruto tip-hoofed away from them passing the knocked out doctor, he looked at her for a moment and poked her once. She didn't give any indication she was awake, so he just went on his way.

Twin 2 stopped noticing their target was nowhere in sight, Twin 1 crashed into him making them both dizzy. Twin 2 glared at 1, who just rubbed the back of his head and gave him an embarrassed smile.

Looking around, they had just enough time to spot the flank of an orange pony disappear around the corner.

They sprinted to the corner, but all they saw was an empty hallway. Seeing that the hallway was a dead-end, they smirked thinking they had caught him. They split up to look at the rooms, 1 took the right, while 2 took the left.

They were either finding empty rooms or patients until there was only one door remaining, 1 and 2 looked at each other before opening the door.

They were quickly pelted with pillows, paint bombs, and wet mops. Twin 2 manages to avoid getting hit, but 1 wasn't so lucky.

**(Benny Hill Theme End)**

He got covered in pink paint, pillow stuffings, and wet. He lowered his head, so his helmet was shadowing his eyes. And when brought his head back up, his entire face turned red and steam was coming out of his ears.

No wanting to face his partner's rage, he quietly moves back and closes the door.

As soon as he closed it, 2 cringes as he heard a battle cry and some scuffling going on. A few minutes later, the noises stopped and out came 1 trotting forward with a triumphant smirk despite his current predicament.

Strapped to his back was the prince tied up again along with his muzzle so he couldn't chew his way out.

"Uh?" That was all 2 could say as he didn't know what to think about this.

1 looked at him for moment before walking again. "Let's go, we still have to get him his check up." After the last hour of them chasing the colt, 1's patience was wearing thin. He just wanted to go home and be done with this.

2 didn't want to get on his bad side, so he just walked along side him. After waking the passed out doctor, they had her give him a check up.

She was still shocked about seeing another Alicorn that she accidentally shouted it. The shocking news was heard throughout the entire hospital.

After the check up and saying that he doesn't have any problems, other than saying that he has a more advanced senses than a regular pony.

They thought it was probably from being an Alicorn, so they dismissed it.

The ground started to shake, the three adult ponies poked their heads outside the room to look at the entrance. They saw about a dozen ponies running in. Ponies of all types and color came rushing in to the hospital because they overheard that their was a new Alicorn in town. And that it was young too!

Naruto wanting to see what all the commotion was about, tried to get through the two stallions and the mare. He failed, so he tried to use his wings but ultimately failed since his wings were still too small and that he doesn't know how to use them yet.

He just settled with climbing on top them. Once he got on top on Twin 1's head, he slipped with his the guard's helmet coming with him.

The crash was loud enough to attract the crowd, they turned to the noise and found the pony they were looking for.

"It's true! The rumors are true! There really is another Alicorn among us!" one random pony said out loud.

Everypony started to crowd around the colt asking him questions on where he came from and other stuff that Naruto didn't process, because in his mind he started to have flashbacks of his time in the Hidden Leaf.

Instead of eager ponies questioning him, what he saw were the villagers with kunais, pitchforks and torches. Terror started to fill his eyes and ran away from the crowd.

The ponies didn't notice the scared look the colt had, since they were too busy trying to find out how there's another Alicorn in existence. They gave chase thinking he wanted to play.

The chase didn't help ease his fear, it only proved to strengthen it. He began to gallops even faster, he went around several corners trying to confuse them. It seemed to work as he saw them look around trying to find him.

He went into one of the vacant rooms and hid in the closet. He shut his eyes tight, trying to get rid of images playing in his head.

-XXXX-

**(Later)**

It's been three hours since she had the guards take Naruto to the hospital for a check up and it was almost time for her to lower the sun. Celestia was starting to get worried, so she decided to head out to the hospital.

Along the way, she met her student reading the same book that she saw yesterday. It looked like she was having a hard time figuring something out.

Twilight sees her mentor with a worried expression. "Princess, is something the matter?" she asked, worried that she was sick.

She snapped out of her thoughts when Twilight spoke. "Huh? Oh! Yes, yes!" she said trying to ease her student. But she frowned when her thoughts went back to Naruto.

"Well, I hope you keep up your studying, but I have to go to the hospital now." Before she headed out.

"Ooh, can I come?" she asked hopefully.

She didn't want to waste anymore time, so she nodded. Twilight didn't waste time and gallops next to her. They got on the chariot and told the two Pegasi to go to the hospital.

After arriving at the hospital, Celestia told the guards to stay and went inside with Twilight. What they saw once they got in, shocked them.

Everything was in utter chaos, papers were flying around, ponies were galloping around like headless chickens, covered in pink paint and pillow stuffings was one of the guard that she assigned Naruto. She might not want to know what happened to him.

Twilight thought that it was funny seeing one of the castle guards covered in pink paint and stuffings. She watched as everyone stopped to bow to the Princess.

"Uh, Princess." the pink covered guard walked up to her and bowed, "We can't find him."

Twilight held her muzzle because he smelled weird. Celestia paid no heed to his odor as there was a more pressing matter to attend.

She nodded. "Go get the other two outside and tell them to help with the search." he bowed one more time and headed outside.

"Come along Twilight, you can help me search." as she headed to a random hallway.

"Uh, Princess." she got a hum giving her acknowledging her. "Just who are we searching for?"

Celestia stopped walking and faced-hoofed, she was so preoccupied with Naruto that she forgot to introduce her to him. "Well, to put it simply. He's my son." dropping the bomb faster than a certain rainbow maned pony.

Twilight was greatly surprised to hear her mentor has a son. She didn't know what to think as she tried to process what she said. Then a question popped in her head.

"Where has he been all this time? Why hasn't she seen him around the castle? Would he be willing to become her friend?" all these questions were popping in her head, as she couldn't find any logical solution to her son's sudden appearance.

"What does he look like?" Twilight asked.

Celestia giggled a little. "Don't worry, you'll know."

She nodded as she didn't want to question her.

They decided to split up so they could cover more ground. Twilight almost didn't hear some crying. She stopped at the door where she thought she heard it.

She poked her head inside to find that it was empty. "H-hello, anypony here?" She walked in very nervous.

She heard the sound again this time little louder and was coming from the closet. She got close to the door and knocked, the crying stopped.

"Who's there?" the muffled voice said.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle." she introduced herself "Uh, what's your name?"

"Naruto." he said.

She opened the door and saw it was an Alicorn. 'So this is what she meant by knowing what he looked like' she thought to herself.

"Why are you in the closet?" she asked, as she sat down in front of him.

Naruto wiped away his tears before he replied. "I was trying to get away from the mob, they always try to come at me."

For some reason she didn't want to see him sad, so she took it upon herself to make him happy. "Hey, Naruto, do you wanna play?"

Naruto was hesitant, you would be too if someone random walked up to you and asked if you wanted to play.

Nodding slowly, he stepped out of the closet. Now that he was out of the closet, he can see the person, I'm sorry, I mean pony. God, these grammars will take time to get used to. She was about his size and had a horn but not wings and has a purple coat.

They played a bit, but it was slow going due to Naruto still being hesitant to play with the Unicorn. During their play time, Naruto opened up to Twilight a little. Twilight surprised him when she said that she was his mother's student, how he missed her around the castle is beyond him.

-XXXX-

Several minutes have passed since she and Twilight separated for their search for her son. Now it seems that Twilight has gone missing as well.

"Sigh, those two will be the death of me someday." as she watched the two mention ponies run around the empty room with smiles on their faces.

This brought a smile to her face, seeing her son and student interact with each other.

"Well, aren't you to looking happy." as she entered the room.

The two children stopped playing to look at Celestia. "Princess/Mom!" said Twilight and Naruto in perfect unity. They looked at each other and laughed.

All three left the room, only to meet the same pink covered Pegasus before.

"Twin 1!" Naruto exclaimed. Celestia and Twilight gave him a confusing look.

Said pony's left eye was twitching as he heard the ridiculous nickname, but dropped it seeing as the Princess was with him.

"You may have the rest of the day off_._" knowing he needed it since today has been crazy.

1 bowed and left, even though he's mad at the colt he couldn't fault him since he's young.

"So, I take it you have something to do with him?" Twilight asked as they walked back to the chariot.

"I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. Right now, I'm tired." dragging his hooves to the chariot.

The female ponies looked at each other before following him. One thing was for sure, with Naruto here life in Equestria will never be boring.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter End<strong>

**Hope you like the chapter. You guys know the drill.**


	3. Shadows Part 1: Cousin

_**WHAT'S UP! It is I, the one and only jhasd12. I am here to present you with yet ANOTHER **_**chapter!**

**Just so you know, I'm going to do this for two more chapters just to get the point across. (Read Below)**

**Disclaimers: I do not own Naruto or My Little Pony, they go to their rightful owners.**

**Chapter 3: Shadows Part 1: Cousin**

**(Night Time-Castle: Naruto's Room)**

_**(Dream)**_

"_GET BACK HERE!" A figure knocked over a trash can. The figure got up and revealed Naruto in his human form._

_He didn't have time to figure out why he's back in his human form since he's trying to get away from his pursuers._

_He ran for what felt like hours, until he took a right turn in to an alley and met a dead-end._

"_We finally caught you this time." Naruto turned around to see five villagers blocking his exit. He slowly backs away to the end of the alley._

_The villagers came towards him, pitch forks, knives, and any other sharp objects they could get their hands on. They grinned maliciously at him._

"_This time, you will DIE!" one villager shouted before he brought his knife down._

_**(Dream End)**_

"NOOOOO!" Naruto woke up from his nightmare and looked around the room frantically.

The two guards that were guarding his room came rushing in, their weapons ready for anything.** (AN: I still don't get how they could hold items or play string instruments. But it is a cartoon, so yeah nuff said.)**

"Young prince, are you alright?" an earth pony guard asked worriedly.

Naruto saw their weapons and jumped to the corner of the room as far away as he could get. "GO AWAY!"

His shouting took the guards by surprised. "But young highness, is-"

"I SAID GO AWAY!" Naruto shouted, closing his eyes shut as if that would make the guards go away.

The guards stood there for a moment before one whispered to the other. "Go get the Princess. I'll stay here in case he does anything reckless" The guard nodded and went out the door to get the Princess.

It didn't take long before Celestia teleported into the room with the guard and found Naruto cowering in the corner. She told the guards that she will handle this and told them to leave. Once they left, she turned back to her son.

"Naruto, are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

Naruto knew she was worried about his well-being. Since the only negative emotions he could feel from her was sadness and concern. "Why?"

Celestia raised an eyebrow at him at his weird question. "Why what?"

Naruto looked at her with a sad face. "You showed nothing but kindness to me, when you barely even _know_ me. So tell me, why do _you _care when others just try to kill me or just plain ignore me?"

Celestia had a forlorn look at what he said before laying down in front of him. "Do I need a reason to care for you? I saw a little colt being attacked. I don't need a reason to help, I just did what was right."

Naruto looked away from her to look at the moon. Every time he wants to clear his head he either looks up at the moon or check out the scenery from a high place, but tonight it doesn't seem like its working, so he turned back to Celestia.

"But, you barely even know me." His ears lowered as he said it.

Celestia sighed before bringing Naruto into a hug, she paid no heed to his little flinch. "I know enough that you were in dire need of some type of guidance. I know that you don't trust me right now, but I hope that you would eventually will. Because you are my son and I will always protect you. Don't you ever forget that, " she said the last part with a smile.

At first Naruto thought that she was being nice to him because she pitied him, but he couldn't feel that emotion from her, only kindness and comfort. "Thank you miss." he whispered.

Celestia heard what he said and it saddened her that he didn't call her mom, she figured it was just a spur of the moment thing that he called her that yesterday. She was about to say more but Naruto was already sleeping soundly in her embrace. She smiled at him before laying him down on the bed, she laid down next to him in case he got another nightmare.

-XXXX-

The first thing Naruto felt when he woke up was warmth. He felt so at peace like there was nothing in the world that could ruin what he was feeling right now.

Naruto's eyes opened slowly only to see a familiar flowing multi-colored mane. He saw Celestia looking at him with a smile.

"Good morning." she greeted.

Naruto rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before greeting the Princess. Their midnight conversation still fresh on his mind. He decided that he will at least give her a chance since he didn't feel anything negative from her that might endanger him.

"Good morning." he greeted back.

After eating their breakfast, which Naruto needed _a lot_ of help with, they went to the garden so Celestia could talk with Naruto.

"Naruto, I know that you're not quite used to being in a new place, but I promised nothing will happen to you here." she assured him.

Naruto smiled softly at her, he was about to say something but saw a familiar purple filly came running towards them.

"Naruto!" Twilight shouted as she stopped running when she got close to the royal ponies.

For some reason his personality went from guarded to happy when he saw his first friend other than Kurama, who for some reason has been quiet for the duration of his time when he got to Equestria.

'I need to see what Kurama's doing later, he's been awfully quiet lately.' he thought before greeting Twilight. "Morning Twilight, anything good happening today?" he asked.

As the two converse, off to the side Celestia pouted slightly. 'It's not fair, how come she gets treated differently?' She didn't know that Naruto still has a slight fear of any living being bigger than him, except for Kurama, since all they ever did was try to kill him. Twilight is different because she's the same size as him and the Leaf village only told their children to stay away from him, and she was the first person or pony to actually interact with him positively.

A pegasus guard flew down in front of her and kneeled. "Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence has arrived."

Celestia's eyes widened, she completely forgot that she had Cadence foal-sit Twilight a week prior since she has a lot of stuff she needed to do for the kingdom.

Twilight overheard what the guard and jumped up and down in joy. "Yay! Cadence is coming! Cadence is coming!"

Naruto gave her a questioning look. "Who's Cadence?"

Twilight stopped jumping and gasped at Naruto "Cadence is only the BEST foal-sitter in all of foal-sitter history. She's caring, fun-loving and spreads love wherever she goes. You'll never find another foal-sitter like her." she said as she started jumping again.

Naruto sweat-dropped. "But that barely even answered my question on who she is."

"She's your cousin." Celestia said, jumping in to the conversation. Her sudden appearance made Naruto run behind the nearest tree. Realizing what she has done she reassured Naruto that nothing will happen. "Don't worry, It's just me."

Naruto slowly comes out of his hiding place and went back to Twilight so she can talk to him about Cadence more, but not before nodding towards Celestia.

It wasn't long before the guards brought in a pony, but not just any pony, it was Mi Amore Cadenza or Cadence. She had a pale, light grayish cerise coat with a moderate violet with moderate rose and pale gold streaks mane. And light purple eyes. Her cutie mark was in the shape of a cyan-colored crystal heart with multiple facets around its center. Her mane tied in a ponytail by a darker shade cyan ribbon.

"Greetings Aunt Celestia" she greeted her adoptive aunt with a bow. She glanced to the side at Twilight, to find an orange ALICORN?! Her jaw dropped at seeing another alicorn aside from her and her aunt.

Celestia saw her expression and couldn't help but laugh. "I see you've met my son. Cadence, this is Naruto your cousin."

Cadence fainted hearing at the news, Celestia and the guards that brought her in had a small laugh, Twilight was freaking out that her foal-sitter was unconscious, while Naruto was watching the whole event with a question mark over his head.

-XXXX-

Cadence slowly woke up to find she was in one of the suites in the castle. She looked around and saw Twilight and her supposed cousin doing her and Twilight's special hoof-shake.

"OK, let's do it again." Twilight instructed.

Naruto nodded. "All right."

"**Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"** they both said as they did a series of movements and ending with them turning away from each other and did a shake.

"You got it!" It surprised her that Naruto was able to get it in a couple of hours. It took a few of days for Twilight and Cadence to make and perfect it. And here was Naruto doing it in a couple of hours!

"Um, hello there." Cadence said to get their attention.

It did get their attention, the two child ponies gave a quick glance at each other before hugging the living daylights out of her.

"Cadence/Cousin!" they shouted at the same time. It lifted the weight off their chests knowing that she was awake.

Returning the hug, she wondered why they were hugging her. Twilight she could understand, but her cousin, she didn't, but welcomed the hug nonetheless.

"You're OK!" Twilight said.

"Of course I'm OK. Why wouldn't I be?" she said after she broke the hug. She wondered what has gotten them so worked up.

"You've been asleep for three days." Naruto said, lowering his ears.

"THREE DAYS!" Cadence exclaimed. How could she have been asleep for three days? She suddenly hears a clicking sound and a flash.

Cadence heard the two little ponies snickering softly.

"I can't believe she fell for it." Twilight said, covering her muzzle to hold in her laughter that was bound to happen.

"All right, enough teasing her, you silly little ponies." The three ponies turned to the voice and saw Celestia walking in.

"What are you talking about Auntie? I need to go back to the crystal empire everypony must be worried sick!" Cadence said frantically.

"No need to fret, they're only playing with you. You've only been asleep for a couple of hours." That eased her worries.

When Cadence calmed down, she looked at the children still grinning at her. "Why~" She whined cutely.

Twilight stuck her tongue out to her. "It was for taking the last cheese cake last year." She then looked towards Naruto. "And Naruto here came up with the idea."

Naruto just grinned and rubbed the back of his head. Cadence then remembered something. "Wait a minute, I remember a bright flash."

Instead of answering, Twilight brought out a camera and Naruto was holding, between his teeth, a photo. Cadence looked closer at it and saw it was her with a shocked expression. She blushed in embarrassment because she looked kinda stupid.

"Can you give me the photo?" She asked, kindly.

The filly and colt shook their heads and galloped past Celestia, laughing along the way.

Cadence looked at her Aunt. "Is he really your son?" she asked.

Celestia's smile turned into a frown and sighed. "Yes, yesterday he was accepting me as his new mother, but something happened and everything went south from there."

Cadence heard her say "new mother" and asked what she meant. Celestia explained to her that Naruto wasn't originally her son. She informed the young princess on her son's life, but left out important facts such as the giant fox that resides within his stomach and that he was once a creature that walked on two legs. That type of information will go with her to the grave, unless Naruto tells it himself or he gives her permission.

Cadence cried throughout the explanation, she didn't understand how ponies could be so cruel to a sweet little colt. She promised herself that she would help the colt with whatever he needs help with.

"I'll do whatever I can to help him." She said after wiping away the last of her tears.

"Thank you, but aren't you forgetting something?" She said trying to lighten the mood. Cadence looked at her quizzically wanting to know what she meant.

Celestia rolled her eyes. "The photo, the two ponies have of you." she said dragging it out.

Cadence's eyes widened. "AH! The photo, I can't let anypony see that." She got out of the bed to give chase to the filly and colt.

-XXXX-

"Come on~ Can I please have the photo." Cadence said as she went for another dive at the photo. She tried using her magic but Twilight countered it using her own. She also tried sneaking up on them, but her cousin, that she hasn't gotten the name of yet due to shock from earlier, always seemed to know when she was about to strike and dodges every time.

Naruto dodged her as he has the photo in his mouth. This game of catch the photo has been going on for about five minutes.

Off to the sides guards stationed around the garden were looking at the royalties and royalty's student. "Bet you five bits that she won't catch those two." The guard next to him just shook his head at the guard's childishness.

"Do you think we should give it to her?" He asked his partner in crime. She paused for a minute and nodded her head.

He gave Twilight the photo before they slowly walk up to the princess, he watched her stand up. He grinned before saying, "That was fun! Let's do it again someday."

Cadence didn't give them a reply, but watched as they got closer. She waited until they got close enough, and tackled them to the ground and started tickling their sides.

"HAHAHAHA!" They laughed uncontrollably at getting tickled to death by Cadence.

"Do you give up yet?" she questioned.

"N-n-never!" Naruto managed to say before Cadence upped the pressure. They tried to hold in their laughter, but it was too much for them.

After the three ponies stopped playing, Twilight gave the photo to Cadence, which she promptly destroyed it. They spent the next couple of hours just talking and getting to know each other. Naruto told them about yesterday's event.

"You wouldn't believe it, Cadence. When Princess Celestia and I got to the HeartCruz Hospital it was chaotic, ponies of all kind were bumping into each other, things were breaking, papers were flying everywhere. That is, until the Princess made herself known and everypony bowed to her." Twilight said excitedly, "Then I found Naruto here inside a clo-" She didn't get to say more as Naruto blocked her muzzle a hoof.

"Okay, Okay! She gets it." he said blushing, he didn't want his new cousin to hear about his meeting with Twilight went. It was embarrassing to find out that she met him in a closet.

"A what? Twilight." she didn't get the last part, but something else was on her mind. 'Naruto? How very peculiar name for a pony.'

"Its nothing! Don't worry about it." Not wanting to have Twilight the chance to answer her. It slightly miffed Twilight that she got interrupted, but got over it thinking that he was just embarrassed about something.

"Oh, Okay."

"So Naruto, I saw that you manage to perfect our special hoof-shake." Cadence said.

Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "I wouldn't say its "perfect"but I know how to do the steps for it.

"Oh, don't be so modest. I saw you do it with Twilight when you thought I was still unconscious, and I just have to say it was a stupendous performance. It took us _days_ to make and perfect it. And when I saw that you completed it in a couple of _hours, _I was completely astonished."

Naruto just sat there listening to her praise him, he didn't know what to think as he never had any type of positive emotions from anyone other than Kurama and the old man.

"Can you show me how you did it?"

"Huh?" Her voice brought him out of his thoughts.

Cadence and Twilight giggled at his cluelessness. "I asked if you want to do the hoof-shake with me."

Naruto was a little nervous, but nodded nonetheless. "Okay."

"**Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"**

Twilight bobbed up and down like a rabbit watching her first friend and foal-sitter interact with one another. A bright idea suddenly sprang in her little head. "Ooh, Cadence! Cadence! We should definitely incorporate Naruto in our hoof-shake."

Cadence and Naruto looked at her, confused. "How are we going to do that Twilight?" Cadence asked. "We designed it for two ponies only."

Twilight deflated at what she said. "I just thought it would be a lot of fun now that we have Naruto with us."

Cadence rubbed the top of her head soothingly without touching her horn.

"Its alright Twilight, you don't need to include me. It's your special ha-hoof-shake after all." Naruto almost said "hand" but manages to recover. 'Man, that was close.' Nopony seemed to pick up on his mistake except for Cadence.

'What was he going to say?' she thought. She looked at her cousin for a few more seconds before dropping it as it didn't seem to be of importance.

"So, I heard you came from the Crystal Empire. What's it like over there?" He questioned, trying to divert the attention away from him.

"Well you see Naruto, um may I call you Naruto?" She didn't want her adoptive aunt getting mad at her for disrespecting her son. Getting a nod, she continued. "I was a previous resident here, in Canterlot, before I move to the Crystal Empire as an ambassador of sorts to help the Crystal Ponies adjust to society."

She started telling him about the Crystal Empire and how it had a 1000-year curse that caused it to vanish, only reappearing recently. She told them about how it was once ruled by an evil pony by the name of King Sombra.

"So even here, there are bad people." Naruto whispered fearfully. His legs started trembling, Twilight and Cadence didn't notice as they were absorbed in their conversation, but the guards did and one of the Pegasus guards quickly flew away to get the Princess.

"But that is until Princess Celestia came and defeated the evil king and turned him into shadow before banishing him in the arctic north of Equestria."

Naruto stopped shaking, after hearing that his mother? defeat the evil pony. The word "mother" felt a little foreign to him than it was yesterday. He unconsciously started to smile, he didn't know it but he was slowly growing closer to thinking of Celestia as a mother.

"Well, now isn't this a wonderful scene." a benevolent voice said.

They turned their heads and saw Celestia gracefully gliding down towards them. Cadence and Twilight bowed, while Naruto just stood there. One reason of the reason he didn't bow was in shock. The other was he didn't know how to bow as a pony.

"Princess Celestia, what are you doing here?" Twilight asked kindly.

"I have two reasons for being here. One is to see if all of you are getting along. From the looks of it, you ponies were having a lot of fun." She said smiling, before turning to Cadence. "The second reason is for Cadence."

Cadence looked surprised at being called. "Me?"

"Yes, can I ask you give Naruto residence at the Crystal Empire while I attend to other duties away. I don't want him to stay locked up in the castle."

"Y-yes, of course! I would be honored to do it." Happy that she was doing something to help the adult princess for all the things she has done for her.

"Twilight you need to go too." She said to her student. "But keep up with your studies.

"Yay! I'll get to see the Crystal Empire!" Twilight cheered. "I will Princess Celestia."

Celestia gave Naruto a hug, which he reluctantly and awkwardly hugged her back. She sighed before letting go of him and flew to who knows where.

"Come along, Naruto. We need to head out early because it's a long way from here." They all started heading out.

Two green eyes with red irises watch them leave behind a tree, covering its entire form. "Soon, you will all soon fall." It whispered before dispersing in black smoke.

Naruto's left ear twitched and looked to a tree where he thought he heard the sound.

"Come on Naruto,we need to get going." Twilight shouted for him to hurry it up. Naruto took one last look at the tree before catching to Twilight.

**Chapter End**

**-Clarifications-**

**Naruto's fear of adults: You should already know that he was treated badly by the adults in the Leaf. Other than the Old Man, Kurama has been the only one to befriend Naruto. Yesterday (Chapter 2), Naruto was ecstatic because another one was being nice to him, so that's why he kept calling Celestia mom in the previous chapters. The reason he went back to fearing adults was because of the crowd of ponies at the hospital. (Read Chapter 2, if you don't know what I'm talking about.)**

**Miscellaneous: I don't know if Cadence move in the Crystal Empire before or after Sombra, so I just did the former.****  
><strong>

**If I left something because I'm really tired when I wrote this. Please don't hesitate to tell me.**

**I also tried proof-reading it, I tried my best. If there's still problems with the grammar I will try to find a BETA.**

**That's all for now. Stay Frosty, no flames, and review if you want.**

**-jhasd12 out-**


	4. Shadows Part 2: Familial Knowledge

**Hey there everyone, here is another chapter.**

**More than half of this chapter is a flashback, so don't be surprise when you don't think its good. Cause I'm still new to writing.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or MLP, they go to their rightful owners.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter 4: Shadows Part 2: Familial knowledge<strong>_

They finally arrive at the Crystal Empire, sure it took them a few days to get there but in the end. They were glad that they took the long way. Cadence proposed we take the scenic route, and bonded throughout the trip. When they finally got to the Crystal Empire, Twilight couldn't help but marvel at the sheer magnificence of the kingdom. Everything is made of crystals, even the crystal ponies had coats to make them look like crystals.

The place is buzzing with activity. Ponies of all kind are going on with their daily lives, occasionally stealing glances at the carriage as it makes its way toward the tower.

The crystal guards are also eyeing them carefully still slightly unconvinced that they were safe from potential enemies. They have to be ready for anything. Call them crazy, paranoid even. But can you really blame them? They have been slaves to a maniacal tyrant, so its kind of justified for them to be even a little bit suspicious of newcomers.

Cadence sighs knowing reason of the crystal ponies' constant staring. Sure she understands for the ponies' paranoia, but it couldn't hurt to at least put some level of trust in the princess's abilities.

'Couldn't they have at least not keep staring at us it's starting to get very uncomfortable.' she thinks as she sees one of the guards eyeing her suspiciously.

Turning her attention to her two charge, she couldn't help but sigh. Twilight at least has been excited about going to the Crystal Empire, so was Naruto but it seems that something has been on his mind the past few days. If his silence was any indication to it. It is worrying her, a pony as young as him shouldn't be silent for long as it is unhealthy. He should be full of life like the first time she met him.

While Twilight was at awe of the place, Naruto is sitting at the far corner of the carriage contemplating about the events upon encountering Kurama the day of their departure to the Crystal Empire.

* * *

><p>-XXXX-<p>

_**(Flashback-Naruto's room-Night time)**_

_Naruto had just managed to pack everything inside a saddle-pack that the guards provided him.**(1)** Which wasn't much considering that he hasn't been long in Equestria in the first place. Added to the fact that he didn't have much to begin with._

_All he had in the pack was snacks for the trip, and the three scrolls given to him by the princess, which she said that was given to her by the village leader of his old world. _

_He knew that she was talking about Old Man Hokage, because he was the only one that cared for Naruto in the village. (**AN: He hasn't met Ichiraku, so that means no ramen-loving Naruto.(2))**_

_The door opened and Princess Celestia walked towards Naruto. He was progressively becoming more comfortable in her presence, albeit slower than she wanted, but it was to the point where he doesn't jerk whenever she suddenly pops up out of nowhere._

"_Sorry to intrude this late at night, but I just hope that you are well for the travel tomorrow." She said._

_Naruto shook his head. "No, I was just thinking of the Old Man." he said._

_Celestia's expression grew solemn. "Do you miss it? The village, I mean."_

_He shook his head in a negative manner. "No, nobody really cares about me there. Only the Old Man, but he's always so busy with leading the village that he can't spend much time with me."_

_Her ears went down upon bringing up old wounds. But went back up promising to herself that she would do what ever it took to make him no longer fear adults and get him to trust her like a son should to his mother._

"_Well, I should probably head back to my quarters now seeing as you are probably tired." With that, she made her way out the door._

"_Thank you," Celestia stopped at what she heard. She turned around to face Naruto and saw him giving her a small smile._

"_For what?" she asked, confused. She appreciated that he was thanking her but didn't know what for._

"_I realized that I never got to thank you for last night. Usually when I have a nightmare, I would have to stay awake so that I don't have to experience it, but last night I _slept. _I wanted to thank you for that." Naruto explained. He never saw Celestia walk up to as he averted his attention to the wall on his right, finding it more fascinating at the moment._

_Celestia embraced him as she did the night before. It didn't escape her when he mentioned the word nightmare. It brought back painful memories of her sister. But she couldn't dwell on the past, she has a duty to protect her foal as of now._

"_Do not worry, my child. You are safe with me and in these lands." she said._

_He nodded before breaking the hug. Celestia nodded as well as a smile before heading back to her sleeping chambers with slight spring in each step she took._

_As soon as the door closed, Naruto went over to his own bed and laid down on it. He closed his eyes to sleep for tomorrow morning._

* * *

><p><em><strong>(Mind-scape) <strong>_

_Naruto woke up with a start. He familiarized himself with his surroundings, and found that he was back in his mind-scape._

_Naruto couldn't wait to tell Kurama all about Twilight, Cadence and Celestia. He galloped toward the giant gates that Kurama resides in._

"_Kurama! Kurama! You're not gonna believe it! I made new friends today. Their names are Twilight and Cadence, Twilight my adoptive mother's, or should I say biological mother now, huh? Anyway, Cadence is my new cousin. Can you believe it? I finally have a family!" Naruto said to the giant gates, before realizing the one he was talking to wasn't answering._

"_Kurama, are you in there?" He asked. Not receiving an answer, he started to worry. He walked up to the gate to look for Kurama._

"_Kurama!" Naruto shouted._

_He heard a light grunting sound and went to the other side. For some reason, the light of the mind scape is following him. He put that thought in the back of his head. Heh, it was pretty ironic to think that since he's _in _his head**. (3)**_

"_**Naruto,"**_ _Kurama in a tired voice. **"Come here I need to tell you something."**_

_Naruto walked forward to Kurama. He could tell something was wrong with his friend, and he did not like it one bit._

_Kurama looked at the human-turned-pony. He sighed as he didn't know how to break it to the boy. Looking at the seven tails it has left, he decided to be blunt. It knew things would only get worse if it tried to sugar-coat it._

"_**Naruto, I don't know how else to say this, but I'm dying." **Kurama said dejectedly._

"_What?" Naruto whispered, not believing what he just heard._

_Kurama sighed again at seeing Naruto in denial. **"I'm very sorry Naruto."**_

"_Sorry...YOU'RE SORRY!" He shouted. "You tell me that you'll always be there to help me whenever I'm in trouble. Now you're that you are leaving!"_

"_**Do you think I want this?" **Kurama shouted as it started to waited for a few moments for Naruto to calm down before continuing.** "It wouldn't be long before I disappear from existence completely."**_

"_**My already miniscule chakra got depleted when I had to do the blood ritual to keep you alive." **_

_Naruto was getting angry and started yelling at the fox. "Why didn't you just leave me to die? After all, you said you are just a being made of chakra, you would've just reformed somewhere and get on with your life!"_

_Having calmed down a little he waited for Naruto to finish, for it knew that shouting isn't going to get them anywhere other than more shouting.** "Even if I didn't help you, both of us would've died. Either way it was a lose-lose situation for me. The seal was designed so that my life is tied to yours: You die first, I die. I die first, you live." **It said calmly, albeit with a sad tone._

_Naruto was surprised with the information. Kurama had never told him this during the year they spent together. _

_He just stood there, not knowing what to do. He knew that this was going to happen eventually and tried hard prepare for it, but when it comes to it, he just wasn't ready. He just couldn't accept it!_

"_How long... till you know." He didn't even want to say the word. His eyes were flowing with tears._

"_**About a week I suppose. In real world terms, not mind-scape." **The fox replied. **"As long as nothing else happens that will require me to use much energy, be it moving or chakra related I'll be fine and last longer. That's why I haven't talked to you for a while, I've been sleeping to conserve energy as it is depleting rapidly."**_

_Kurama just watched as Naruto let out all of the sadness he ha collected over the four years of his life. If it was going to die, it might as well tell him. **"Naruto there is something I have to tell you. It's about your parents."**_

_Naruto wiped away his tears with a hoof. "What do you mean?" He said._

"_**I know your father and mother's names."**_

_Naruto froze, he slowly looked up at the fox with pleading eyes. "Who were they Kurama?"_

"_**Your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki, she was my previous host. That's how I know you're her child." **Naruto knew that she is dead when Kurama used her name in a past then its' left eye twitched in irritation on what was going to be said next. **"She wouldn't shut up about you. It was getting on my nerves **_**and****_ the people around her. I mean, come on! I thought people can only talk so much about one subject but your mother proved me wrong by talking about you nonstop for NINE WHOLE MONTHS!"_**

_Naruto chuckled at the fox's misfortune. He was very happy that his mom loved him very much before she least now the horrible mood a moment ago was gone._

_Kurama gained a tick mark on its head at Naruto laughing at him, but but quickly smirked. **"Hey, I don't know what you are laughing about considering this is about you. If I remember correctly, she would've paraded you around in PJs on your fifth birthday. And take embarrassing pictures of you and hang them on every door in the village to show how proud she is of you."**_

_Naruto wisely shut his mouth to prevent another embarrassing assault on his dignity. _**'That's what you get. Even if you are my friend, no one gets to make of the great Nine-Tails.' **_it though.__It may like Naruto, but that didn't mean it was going to let anybody ruin it's pride. Friend or foe, no one gets to ruin it's pride. _

_Before Kurama continue thinking about keeping it's pride intact, Naruto asked a question._

"_What did she look like?" he said trying to change the subject, but also trying to learn more about his deceased mother._

"_**She had fiery red hair with violet eyes." **Kurama stopped for a moment as it was still tired. **"In her childhood, she was a tomboy that attacks people who insults her hair. Mainly for calling her a tomato. As she grew older she became more level-headed and calm, but she did keep some of her **_**very****_ short temper and would occasionally lash out on people that gets on her nerves. She was also very fearless and would go out of her way to help out a friend in need."_**

_Naruto couldn't help but smile at the personality his mother. Kurama smiled too at seeing Naruto smile._

"_**Her favorite thing to do was pulling pranks which fortunately or unfortunately, depending on someone's perspective, you inherited from her. Minato Namikaze was her favorite pranking target. She also like to eat ramen." **Kurama thought for a moment. **"If I remember correctly, she liked salt ramen above all else and doesn't like coffee or anything bitter for that matter."**_

_Naruto was happy that he gets to find out about his mother, now raises the question on his father. He was sure he heard that name before, but doesn't know where._

"_Minato Namikaze, who was he?" that took Kurama by surprise. It was sure that Naruto would be able to connect the dots, but then again he still is just a child._

"_**You know him very well actually." **It said with a smirk._

_Naruto sat down on the floor. He closed his eyes to think on who his father might be. No matter how much he tried to guess his father, his mind was drawing blanks. He was thinking so hard that his face was turning red-orange._

"_**Whoa, Naruto." **Kurama interrupted his thinking, **"Don't think too hard, or else you'll hurt yourself!"**_

_Stopping Naruto made his face return to its natural orange color. The giant fox didn't know if the boy was all right or still experiencing some mild headache._

"_**Are you all right?" **The fox squinted its' eyes to see better if the boy didn't hurt himself._

_Naruto rubbed the back of his head and grinned at the fox. "I'm okay." He waited for a moment before going back to business."So who is my father Kurama?"_

"_**Your father's name was the one that sealed me in you, the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze." **Naruto couldn't believe it. Never in a million years would he ever thought of the village hero being his father. The Fourth Hokage his father!_

"_**As you know, he's the fourth hokage. He was famous for killing an entire battalion of Rock/Stone Ninjas in a matter of seconds. That's how he earned his moniker the Yellow Flash." **Kurama explained._

"_**You actually inherited his appearance mostly, but had your mother's roundish face instead of your father's angular one. He was calm, a **_**lot ****_more calm than your mother ever was in her whole life." _**_The two of them shared a small laugh._

_They would have laughed some more if not for Kurama having a coughing fit. It started to scare Naruto as he didn't know what to do. Kurama started leaking chakra from its mouth before coughing harder._

_Kurama looked at Naruto sadly. **"I'm sorry Naruto, but I won't be able to tell you more about your parents as I am growing weaker. Now I only have about 3 or 4 days left to live. The next time we see each other would be the day I die." **_

_With that Kurama fell asleep on the floor, its' breathing started to stabilize. He was sad and happy at watching Kurama sleep soundly. Sad, because it shorten its life span when they were talking and Naruto kept talking with him even after finding out that it was draining the fox's energy just to stay awake. Happy, because he finally got some information on his parents. Even though Kurama knew that it would shorten its life span, it still gave him the information rather than later where wouldn't even have time. For that he was forever grateful._

"_Thank you Kurama." Naruto whispered. Leaving the fox to rest and get ready for the road ahead that was to come tomorrow._

_Upon disappearing from the mind-scape, he never noticed the smile etched on the fox's face and the lone tear escaping._

_**(Flashback End)**_

* * *

><p>-XXXX-<p>

"Na...to, ...ruto. Naruto!" Realizing that he was being called, he turned to Cadence who is looking at him with a worried expression written all over her face.

Feeling something wet on his face, he brings his hoof up and finds out that he's been crying.

"Are you all right?" He turns to face Cadence and looks to Twilight to see her also worrying.

Naruto silently curses himself for worrying them so much. He wipes away his tears with his right hoof and gives them a bright smile. "I'm fine. Just glad that you guys are my friends."

It warms their hearts to hear him say that about them. Twilight drops the subject completely, but Cadence, while dropping the subject, couldn't help but be skeptical on why he was crying a second ago.

_'If it was about us, then he should have been smiling throughout the trip. But he wasn't, it looked like somepony close to him died.'_ she thought. She didn't know how close she was to the truth.

Before she could think more, the carriage comes to an abrupt stop. "We're here."

"Ms. Cadence and company." They turn towards a Crystal guard with multiple medals.

_'The Captain perhaps?'_ Cadence thinks while raising a delicate eyebrow.

The guard didn't give out any outward expression that he saw what she did. _'Or not.'_

"If you would so kindly follow me. We shall meet with the Captain and the council." he says before turning away and proceeds to the conference room, not giving her the time to reply.

_'How rude.'_ she scowls before turning to the filly and colt with a smile. "Well, you heard the stallion. Let's go!"

She stops for a moment and turns to a pony that was unloading their stuff. "Bring them up to the room, if you'd be so kind."

With that they face forward again and followed the guard. Cadence quickly anticipating on how the meeting will go.

Nopony noticed a hooded figure in a dark alley watching the royals and royal's student. The figure recedes into the ground creating a black circle on the ground. It zooms out of the kingdom so fast that ponies didn't even realize it was there to begin with.

* * *

><p>-XXXX-<p>

**(With the shadow-10 miles form the Crystal Empire)**

The shadow stops at the outskirts of the forest near the Empire. It rises from the ground and looks around to see if it was followed, seeing that it wasn't.

It walks towards a tree and puts its' hoof on the trunk. Checking once more just to make sure it wasn't followed, it didn't see anypony.

The hooded figure presses on the trunk and it sinks in. There is a sound of a door unlatching to the figure's right and sees an underground passage.

It quickly heads down the passage and the entrance closes as soon as it entered.

It took little time for the figure to come across a wide room. The room is filled with torches, but has a few dark spots on various places because the flames couldn't reach it.

In the center of the room is another pony, this is King Sombra. He is a unicorn with dark gray coat and black spiky mane and tail. His horn is curved, smooth, sharp at the tip and gradients from dark gray to red. He has sharp teeth with two visible fangs. He has red irises and green sclera with purple mist emanating from them. He wears silver armor only covering his legs and neck, a crown with horn-like points on his head, and a red cape covering his flank.

The hooded figure walks in front of the pony and bows.

"My lord, the targets have arrived." The hooded figure said.

King Sombra looks at the hooded figure and nods, **"You may take off your hood now."** though it was more of a demand rather than a suggestion.

The figure took of its hood and faces the former ruler. The once hooded figure is a unicorn stallion. He has brown eyes with Russet mane and tail. His coat is a taupe color, his cutie mark still hidden from view.

"**You have done well, Shadow Storm."** Shadow Storm bows again to the former ruler of the Crystal Empire.

"Thank you, my lord." Sombra orders him to bring in a "The chest".

Shadow Storm leaves and returns in a few minutes. Hovering beside him is a medium-size chest.

Shadow Storm opens the chest and emanating from it is a light gold light that lights up the room.

"**MWAHAHAHA! With this the crystal ponies doesn't stand a chance." **Off to the side, Shadow Storm watch as his lord laugh menacingly. With the room now lighting up, you could see his brown eyes glaring maliciously at nothing.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Done Done Dooooonnnnneeee! With this chapter<strong>_

_**OK, I'll admit. This is probably not my best chapter. But not entirely my fault. I have to do a bunch of testing this month at school. First was the STAR TESTING, a week after that came the Smarter Balanced Assessment thing. And you know what we get to do next week? Even MORE testing. I hate this year of my life.**_

_**Good news: I'm half way done with chapter 5! All right~**_

_**Bad news: I won't be able work on it much until school lets out. So update would be slow. Also the fact that I'm moving adds to that. **_**:(**

**1: Naruto has spent his time trying to get the saddle-pack on his back without any help from the guards or the princess. Of course it would take a while for him to adjust to his new body. That's why it took him til night to get everything ready.**

**2: Ramen-loving Naruto is not needed. And it slightly overused. Writing Naruto be all depressed about not having ramen, don't get me wrong I like does types of scenes. It's just overused.**

**3: I'm going by canon mind scape. You know how the gates doesn't have any source of light inside. I'm making it follow Naruto around when he goes to Kurama's side of the cage.**


	5. Shadows Part 3: Recon

**Hey guys.**

**Okay, first off. Kind off not important so you can skip this one.**

**Thanks to reviewer **_Arashi Uzukage_**. He is right, "Four years old and in the academy? Seriously? And he met Kyuubi when he was Three and actually held an intelligent conversation with it? How Fing smart did you make Naruto? Even in the Naruto-verse or any other universe, Naruto is far too smart for someone as young as him". When I saw that I read the chapter again and I thought "I can't believe I wrote that..." so I changed it to 8 years old. So that it actually make some sense now.**

**Second off. NEW STORY?**

**I will also get back on writing my first story after cleaning it up because the last chapter for it was kind of a mess. I'll also might be making a new story, but haven't decided on the details yet.**

**Lastly, POLL!**

**Should I continue to kill off Kurama, or do you want him to live? People are PM-ing me about it. I'll set up a poll. Also, I was pretty decisive about this in the past few months, but now I'm having second thoughts. Should I change Naruto's name to fit in with Equestrian name, or keep his original?**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: Shadows Part 3: Recon<strong>

"ARGH! This is so annoying!" Naruto said as he ruffles his spiky mane in frustration. He had been studying the scroll on how to access his chakra but that proved to be challenging. His head droops in despair.

They weren't allowed in the meeting, so the guards guided them to the room they would be staying in. It has been roughly two hours since they were left to their own devices, and they were getting bored fast. The guards didn't allow them to go outside the room until Cadence came back and gives them permission.

The room was spacious, but wasn't as big as the one he had slept in the previous night. The room had a couch and a king-size bed. It has several land-scape paintings on the wall and a drawer on the left side of the bed.

Naruto is sitting on the bed near the drawer. Twilight is also on the bed opposite of Naruto.

Twilight diverts her attention from her book and turns to the noise, and sees him struggling with the scroll. She had seen what was in the scroll, but couldn't understand what it was saying. **(1). **To her, it was a bunch of squiggly lines, but understood that it was words because of its asked why the writing was different from what she knew.

Naruto, not wanting her to know he was from a different world yet, told her that it was his mom's and his secret language incase something happened to either of them and that no one, argh! Grammars! Nopony would be able to break it.

Seeing that he won't give out more information, Twilight scowled halfheartedly at losing the chance to learn something new that the Princess hasn't taught her.

Before she could question Naruto, the door opened and Cadence walked in.

"Hey, kids." Cadence says with a smile that was a bit forced.

They look at her and began putting away their reading material and walked over to Cadence.

Naruto didn't need to sense her emotion to see something is wrong. Even before meeting Kurama, Naruto has been able to slightly tell people's intentions. The reason for this? Well, you should already know. The villagers.

He had to learn pretty quickly and be able to avoid people with bad intention, Kurama said a few months before that even without his Negative Emotions Sensing he would be able tell due to his experience.

"Cadence, are you okay?" asked the lone colt in the room with concern in his voice.

"Huh? Oh, it is nothing." she says, "why do you ask?" It perplexed her as to why Naruto is concerned.

"Well, it was your smile. I noticed it was a little forced." he explained. He saw Cadence widen her eyes in shock and spots Twilight looking at them with curiosity,

"What does he mean Cadence?" Twilight says to her. She thought that there was nothing wrong with her, but then Naruto said that there is something wrong.

"I-I-uh..." she stutters, trying to come up with an answer. She gives up, she didn't have it in her heart to lie to the children.

"Its nothing. The Council deems it unnecessary for us to be here, and wants out of the Crystal Empire by tomorrow noon at most."

That shock both of them. And Naruto voiced his opinion, "That's not fair! We just got here!" he exclaimed.

Twilight is also sad that they would have to leave so soon after arriving.

"Isn't there any way for us to get them to delay the departure for at least to the end of the week!" Twilight says trying to help Cadence come up with a plan so they could stay a little longer. It would absolutely suck that they came all this way to just go back home! How is that fair?!

Cadence shakes her head already having anticipated the question. "Sorry Twilight, I really am. But we can't fault them. They have been enslaved by Sombra and they are just too paranoid right now. You understand?"

Twilight sighs in defeat knowing that she is right.

"Hey, no need to be sad. At least we get to spend the whole day exploring the place." Naruto said trying to cheer them up. And it worked. They look to be out of their slight depression.

"You are right Naruto." Cadence said to him, and then turns to Twilight. "We should make use of this time to see what the kingdom has to offer."

It might have brightened her up a little, but as the saying goes "no use crying over spilled milk." or something like that.

She nods and walks to the door, opening it with her magic. "You guys coming or what?"

She waited for them to come closer before heading outside.

* * *

><p>-XXXX-<p>

* * *

><p>They walked around for a bit with Twilight explaining about different things about the kingdom. Naruto walked a bit closer to Cadence with all the stares they were receiving.<p>

Cadence looked at Naruto with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Naruto, as long as I'm here nopony will hurt you."

That put Naruto's worries ease up a little. "Thanks cousin Cadence." he said with a slight smile.

Cadence responded with a smile of her own. "Cadence is just fine, after all we're family and there is no need to be so formal."

"Hey, why are you so far behind?" They turned back to Twilight who was a little farther ahead of them.

_'When did she get so far?' _They though simultaneously.

They trotted slowly to catch up to her, but Naruto bumped into a pony that came out of a corner. He fell to the ground with a grunt.

The moment Naruto made contact with the pony, his vision was filled with never-ending darkness with the only light was a pair of red eyes with green sclera.

"I'm sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." said the mysterious pony.

Naruto's vision became normal again when he heard the voice. The mysterious pony helped him up and got a good look of each other.

The mystery pony was a unicorn with a russet mane and tail. Taupe colored coat and a black cutie mark that was a spiral with 6 fang-like edges. **(2).**

* * *

><p>-XXXX-<p>

* * *

><p><em><strong>(Earlier)<strong>_

Shadow Storm was having a good day. Lord Sombra gave him a mission to investigate the new alicorn that was rumored to be Princess Celestia's son.

After leaving the hideout, using shadow travel, he went back to the Crystal Empire to scout around for the son of the Princess.

He was a little frustrated when he found out that the colt stayed in the Crystal Tower and had to wait in the shadows as to not get detected by the guards patrolling the area.

While he waited for them to come out, he tried to come up with different ways to gather intelligence for his lord.

He didn't have to wait long before three ponies walk out. The other princess he was told about, Cadence, was the niece of the princess, a filly, the student of the princess, and the rumored son of the princess.

He silently celebrated at seeing the high-status ponies finally out. _'But first I need to gain their trust.' _he thought after finishing his celebration.

Suddenly, an ingenious idea struck him like a sonic rainboom. He quickly used the shadows to travel ahead of them, twenty meters give or take. He took of his cloak and dumped it far down the dark alleyway.

He casually walked out of the alley and "accidentally" bumped into Naruto.

* * *

><p>-XXXX-<p>

* * *

><p><em><strong>(Present)<strong>_

"Naruto, are you alright?" Cadence said. As soon as she saw him bump into somepony, she got concerned with his well-being. Twilight also came with her.

"I'm okay." he said as the stranger pony (to them) helped him up. He turned to look back at the pony. "Thanks..." Naruto paused as he didn't know what his name was.

"Storm, Shadow Storm." he said bowing to the three.

Twilight and Cadence bowed to him as well. "My name is Cadence. This is Twilight and the other one is Naruto." Gesturing the two children.

Naruto moved behind Cadence after bumping into Shadow Storm. He felt so much negativity from the stallion that he almost had a small vision of the villagers attacking him. Luckily, his fears lessened with the presence of Cadence and Twilight.

Two mentioned didn't feel any oddity from the stallion. "What's the matter Naruto?" Cadence said when she saw him move behind her.

"I just feel a little sick." Naruto shook his head. Quickly seeing her worried face, he eased her thoughts. "But don't worry its minor." As he smiled.

"I guess" she replied still unsure, but thought. _'but that doesn't explain why you move behind me.'_

She stared at him for a few more seconds before letting out a defeated sigh. She began to feel something pulling her away and found that it was Naruto.

"Can we go Cadence?" Naruto urged wanting to get as much distance from the stallion. He was bad news and didn't want them getting caught in the mix of whatever it was that was producing the malevolent aura.

Shadow mentally scowled at the display. He watched as the orange colt tried to get the pink mare away from him. He can't let that happen, he needed information. He gave them the most generous smile he could muster.

"Why don't I treat you guys with food? Think of it as an apology for bumping into the little one." he said as he glanced at Naruto, who tried to hide his figure more from him.

While the two adults were talking, on the side, Twilight watched Naruto with concern. The princess told her that he had issues with ponies in big crowds, but that doesn't explain why he wanted them away from the stallion.

"Its all right Naruto, its just lunch. No need to worry." Cadence said. She just assumed he wanted to go exploring. Another reason was that she got hungry from the meeting earlier.

_'He suspects something...' _Shadow Storm thought with narrowed eyes, he did a little thinking and his eyes widened. _'Could it be that he knows I work for King Sombra. No, he too young to know about the king. So what is it?'_

As he was preoccupied with his thoughts, he almost didn't notice Cadence talk. "I'm sorry, but what was that?" Shadow said.

"I said sure, we could go for a small stop before we begin exploring." Cadence said.

Shadow Storm walked ahead of them and gestured to follow him. They never noticed a sinister smile on his face.

* * *

><p>-XXXX-<p>

* * *

><p>They went to a random restaurant and Cadence and him made small talk, talking about random things about life. Of course Shadow Storm's was false. He didn't want them to know anything. Cadence was especially helpful to Shadow because he was getting information. The only one he hasn't gotten was from the rumored prince, keeping as much distance from him as much as possible. The orange colt walked beside the purple unicorn as she talked her studies to Naruto.<p>

The colt was very suspicious of him, he needed to get away soon before his cover is blown.

After they had lunch, Shadow told them that he had to go do something for a friend of his. Twilight asked him who his friend was, but Shadow told them that he will introduce him to them very soon. When he rounded a corner and away from their view especially the orange prince, he galloped down an alley.

He spent a few seconds looking around the alley making sure that nopony was around. Nodding his head in confirmation, he blended with the shadows raced back to the hideout. He never noticed Naruto seeing him disappear.

"Naruto!" the mentioned pony turned around and saw Twilight and Cadence giving him stern looks. They slowly walked up to him and give him a lecture.

"Hey guys," Naruto said not noticing their stern faces.

"Don't "hey guys" me young stallion." Cadence said reproachfully. "Who knows what could happen to you."

"Seriously Naruto, you shouldn't wander off considering you're in unfamiliar territory. It's just not safe." This time Twilight said it.

They continued berating him for going off on his own for a few more minutes until they stopped.

"I'm sorry." Naruto said dejectedly. He was absolutely downhearted at their disappointment.

Twilight and Cadence felt bad for him and gave him a hug, which surprised him because he thought they would stay angry. "We just want you to be safe."

Naruto hugged them back and they began their exploration of the kingdom. They walked away from the alley where Shadow disappeared from and Naruto stopped.

Twilight and Cadence stopped walking and looked at Naruto.

"Is something the matter?" Twilight said, her tone full of curiosity. Cadence also thought the same.

Naruto was in deep thought before looking at the two and shook his head. "Its nothing. I just can't but feel like I'm forgetting something." Naruto said as he put a hoof to his muzzle trying to remember what he was thinking before they arrived. "Well, It's probably not important if I can't remember. It might come back later on anyways."

Cadence and Twilight gave each a quizzical expression before shrugging thinking nothing of it.

* * *

><p>-XXXX-<p>

* * *

><p>(Outskirt of the Crystal Empire-10 miles)<p>

Shadow Storm returned to a very familiar forest. He pushed the same trunk of the tree that leads to the temporary hideout of Sombra's. **(3).**

He walked back to the same room as before. He wasn't surprised to find the former king still there. The chest hovered next to him surrounded by dark purple magic. The chest was slightly opened and Shadow could see the light golden glow emanating from within.

Quickly bowing to the Lord, he relayed to him what he found from his scouting trip.

Sombra took all the information in silence. From what Shadow Storm gathered, the young prince seems to have some sort of sensor ability. No knowledge was known about him other than he is the son of Celestia and what was previously stated, no other information about him was found it was like he appeared out of thin air. He was a wild card at best but possibly no threat to him.

The purple unicorn is a minor threat to him and his quest for domination after all, anypony could be a threat to him just by being Celestia's student.

The pink alicorn was probably the biggest threat out of the three but they were all still young, a foal to him. And a foal is just that, a foal. Nothing would get in his way of controlling the Crystal Empire. Nothing.

"Rest up and save your strength." Sombra ordered.

Shadow Storm looked at his lord questioningly wondering why he needed to rest. "Can I ask why my lord?"

Sombra just glared at him and sneered out, "I don't need to explain myself. You will find out tomorrow. Now get out of my sight before I lose my patience."

Not wanting to offended the dark king he quickly bowed before excusing himself and headed to his sleeping quarters.

After Shadow Storm left the room, Sombra levitated to chest to his face and looked inside. He couldn't keep the smile off of his face every time he looked inside. This object could, no, WILL be the key factor of him enslaving the Crystal ponies once again.

"The pieces are coming together. Soon I will have them all again, under my hoof where they belong." Sombra said. **(AN: Repetitive, I know. I thought he would be someone who likes to repeat himself.)**

* * *

><p>-XXXX-<p>

* * *

><p><em><strong>(Next Day)<strong>_

Cadence and her entourage had finished packing all of their stuff awhile ago and an Earth pony was loading it all back in the carriage. Yesterday had been eventful for the ponies. The people of the Crystal Empire were actually great ponies, well, once you get past the paranoia problem that is. Except for Naruto as they were looking at him warily and he in return looked fearfully, though Twilight didn't seem to notice. She managed to get him at least brave enough to have a small conversation with the locals.

Speaking of which, she spotted Naruto conversing with Twilight animatedly. It was funny and a little concerning at seeing his clueless face. Funny because he looks like he doesn't understand much about the history of the princess. Concerning for the same reason, which quickly turned into anger.

_'If I ever see those foal-beaters, I would personally send them to hell!' _Cadence thought angrily.

"CADENCE!" a shout sounded breaking her thoughts. She looked to the source and saw Twilight and Naruto giving her concerned looks.

"You weren't responding two minutes ago and we were calling out your name." Twilight said.

Cadence blushed in embarrassment. She didn't know she spaced out like that, she usually doesn't do that. Quickly shaking her head to get rid of the blush she looked back at the two children.

"I'm fine, nothing to worry about." She said.

The two children looked unsure if she really was alright, but chose to believe her. There were not going to start mistrusting her judgement.

"All right, if you say so." This Naruto said it.

They all got on board and told the driver to take the long way again since they put up a vote earlier. Unaware of the impending event going to happen later on.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter End<strong>

**(1): Why don't we just make the language the same, but the written part is different. Just go with it. **

**(2): Image is in my profile if you want to have a clearer picture. Found it in google. Not a good artist, so don't judge me.**

**(3): Think of one of Orochimaru's hideouts.**

* * *

><p><strong>Love it, Like it, Hate it? Review it! Flames may or may not be ignored. <strong>

**ADIÓS people!**


	6. Shadows Part 4: Invasion

**Hello people!**

**Looks like you guys like Kurama, and don't want to change Naruto's name. I can live with that.**

**On with the story!**

**Disclaimers: For the final time. I do not own Naruto and My Little Pony, they go to their respected owners.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 6: Shadows Part 4: Invasion<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>(Half an hour after departure)<strong>

BOOOOOOOM!

A building explodes and gets caught on fire. The entire kingdom is being attacked! You could see several unconscious guards and civilians littered all over the block. A few buildings collapsed already, while some were barely standing.

The guards have bruises on them, while the civilians only had minor scratches. Ponies that weren't unconscious were running away from the burning building, not even looking at their fallen brethren in fear for their lives. Three castle guards tried to guide the ponies into a safe zone.

A figure jump out of the burning building and stood in front of the guards. The guards looks at the figure and notices that it was a male unicorn with russet mane and tail. This was Shadow Storm and a little ways from his position was Sombra on top of a none burning buildings.

The guards didn't know the Russet-maned unicorn, but they do know that he was working with/for Sombra. When they saw Sombra, they grew fearful upon remembering what he did to them under his rule. The guards slowly backs away from the two, but Shadow merges with the ground and sneaks behind them with a cold look.

"I hope you aren't planning on leaving early." he says with mockingly.

Sombra jumps down from his post and lands in Shadow's previous position. Together, they walked around the guards, intimidating them greatly.

One guard tried his luck and made a break for it, if he could get away then he could warn the others, but Shadow popped up from the ground ahead, blocking his path and gets knocked out. After the guard was unconscious, Shadow returned to his spot so they won't have an opening.

"**Well, don't I feel welcome."** Sombra says as he grins at their fear. He always did love it when _**his**_ ponies quiver in fear, it was a reminder to them on who was on top of the food-chain. They were nothing but pets always awaiting to hear his command.

A Pegasus pony was watching the whole scene play out in front his eyes. He quietly flies away to get help. If he manages to get away undetected that is.

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on whose perspective, Shadow notices the pony fly away. He charges his magic to his horn, ready to kill the fleeing pony.

Sombra raises his hoof, immediately stopping Shadow from blasting the pony out of the sky. **"Don't. Let him get help. Reinforcements won't change a thing, even if Celestia is among them."**

"What about thee two royals and the student? Should we be concerned?" Shadow says referring to the former ambassador and her group. He knows that there is no danger from them, but there is always the possibility of something unexpected happening. After all, they are not just simple ponies. The one he is cautious about is the blond-maned prince and his empathic ability.

Sombra scoffs at his admission and shrugs it off. **"There is no need. Even if he gets Celestia, she won't be able to win." Now come, we have more chaos to give to the ponies."**

With that said, they walked away, but not before knocking out the remaining guards. They walked towards the Crystal Tower and went to the throne room. King Sombra walked to the balcony, overlooking the empire, and ordered Shadow to cause more mayhem. He looked on as Shadow instilled fear into the hearts of the ponies.

He laughs as he relished on the ponies' fears as it reminded of the horrible days of their lives under his rule.

He casts a spell that gathered dark clouds over the kingdom.

The ponies' eyes widened as they watch the clouds cover them overhead. It proved to be effective against the ponies because they were now in despair. After seeing their lost of hope, Sombra showed himself and said, **"Kneel!"**

Everypony tried to resisted, but their will was crushed. They complied without much resistance, even the guards bowed. All they could think was that somepony would come and rescue help them.

King Sombra laughs as he watched them kneel for him. **"It's good to be king."**

* * *

><p>-XXXX-<p>

* * *

><p>Twilight and Cadence were talking about mare stuff, so Naruto didn't join in. He favored on just watching the trees as they passed by. He saw a lake up ahead and thought it would be nice to take a small dip. It felt nice to him because it reminded him of the <strong>Leaf Village<strong>, or more specifically, the Old Man. He wished he could find someplace where he could get a nice view of the scenery. Watching a nice view to see always calms him down. It always made him feel...FREE, away from all the hate, the prejudice, and the villagers. Especially the villagers!

He shook his head. There is no reason to live in the past, he should focus on the present and keep moving forward.

A hoof touched his shoulder, he looks at the hoof and sees Twilight looking at him. "You alright Naruto? You've been spacing out since we left." She voiced her concern for her orange-coated friend.

"Yeah, this doesn't have anything to do with Shadow is it?" Cadence jumped in. As earlier in their ride, Naruto remembered what he forgot. He said to them that there was something going on with Shadow, something bad. He just couldn't put his hoof on it. Cadence told Naruto that there was nothing wrong with Shadow, and lightly scolded him that he shouldn't antagonize ponies just because of their name and appearance. But Naruto told her that when he bumped into Shadow, he saw something with red eyes and green background. That got Cadence's attention real fast, he felt dread coming from her as her eyes widened a little before shaking her head and telling him that he was hallucinating.

Naruto shakes his head, "No, it's not that. I'm just enjoying the view, but got caught up in the past."

he says the last part quietly but it was enough for the two females to hear.

Cadence's eyes gained sadness with anger mixed in, while Twilight was clueless on his words. "What do you mean by that Naruto?" She says curiously.

"Don't worry, its nothing you should worry about." He says wanting them to drop the subject.

Looking at each other, Cadence and Twilight drops the subject, but will be brought back up eventually. The carriage came to an abrupt halt and jerked them in their seats. They got out of the carriage to confront the driver.

"What happened? Why'd you stop?"Cadence questions the driver. The driver didn't give her a response, he just points behind them and hears a flapping of wings. They turn to the sound and sees a shocking discovery. A Crystal guard battered and bruised flying towards them.

The guard is thankful that the carriage stopped as he had no more energy left. He was about to crash land on to the unforgiving ground before Cadence catches with her magic and gently lowers him down. She uses the health kit in the carriage to heal his wounds, but since she's not a doctor, her skills are abysmal as it only heals minor wounds. But lucky for her, it was enough to put him from complete exhaustion.

The guard raises his head from the ground with a lot of difficulty. Cadence pushes his head down and tells him to save his strength. The guards complies, but before he could speak he passes out. It wouldn't be for awhile before he wakes up again. And during that time-frame, Cadence got out a scroll and begins to write to Princess Celestia telling her about the situation, and a little _detail_ on what might have caused this. Until then, they would do everything they can to get the guard back to health.

* * *

><p>-XXXX-<p>

* * *

><p><em><strong>(Canterlot-Express Mail Building)<strong>_

_Knock Knock Knock_

Two familiar stallions with white coat and blue eyes came through the door of the castle. The two Pegasus guards asked the stallion at the front desk for any letters or scrolls. This was a routine that the princess would have his guards do just so they could have a moments rest while also checking for information that needs of her attention.

The guard at the front desk is a Pegasus as well. He has a gray-white coat with a yellow mane and tail. He had a blue cap with wing design. His cutie mark is a golden scepter with wings being coiled by two snakes.

"Hey there Light Speed!" Twin 1 says to the mail-pony, who is currently at Canterlot Daily. Light Speed looks up from his newspaper, and sees the two castle guards, Twin 1 and 2.

"Well, well, well. If it ain't Sky Blitz **(Twin 1) **and Shooting Star **(Twin 2)**." Light Speed says, "Here for a routine message alert?" They nod and he puts down his newspaper and walks to a large number of pipes that goes who-knows-where. The pipes are actually magical pipes that brings scrolls, letters, and other types of things that has something to do with delivery. It's only used by High class ponies from all over Equestria.

He walks around the numerous sets of pipes to look for anything. Just as he was about to inform the two guards, one of the pipes begins to shake violently. Light Speed cautiously approaches the shaking pipe.

Seeing danger from the pipe Light Speed jumps away, and just in time too. As the pipe explodes and a capsule containing a scroll comes shooting out. It ricocheted everywhere almost hitting in its path, but it was hitting things that were stationary.

Shooting Star had to dodge a few stray shots. He cursed Sky Blitz for asking him to stay while he got them something to eat from the cafeteria.

A door to Shooting's left swings open and Sky Blitz walks out unaware of the situation. "Hey Shooting! I got us some apples." He says gesturing to the basket of apples on his back.

Shooting dodges another strike from the capsule and sees it was heading for Sky!

"Watch out!" Shooting shouts to Sky.

But it was too late, Sky only had enough time to see a cylinder projectile coming at him at high-speed. The capsule smacks him right on the face. Everypony who saw the what happened, cringes at the amount of pain the castle guard must be in right now.

The capsule bounces off of Sky and bounces of the ground before rolling to Shooting's hooves.

He picks it up and was marked as URGENT for Princess Celestia from Princess Cadence.

As soon as Shooting Star saw the word "Urgent" on the capsule, he opened the cap and puts the scroll away to give to the princess.

He walks to the unconscious Sky and kicks his left hind leg, "Get up Sky! We've got to get this letter to Princess Celestia fast!"

Sky stirs from the land of dreams and mumbles, " Mommy, is that you?"

Shooting smacks him on the face, immediately waking him from his stupor.

Sky quickly stands upon remembering what Shooting Star said. He didn't bother picking up the scattered apples as they have an important letter to deliver.

Light Speed didn't bother them about the damages, as a letter from a princess to a princess is very important. As well as he knows that they would help compensate for the damages.

* * *

><p>-XXXX-<p>

* * *

><p><em><strong>(Canterlot-Princess Celestia's Room)<strong>_

Princess Celestia flops down on her bed with an audible groan. Yesterday had been strenuous for her, but was glad that it was all over now. Her thoughts drifted to her son for the last few days. A smile was emerged from her muzzle at the thought of him here, not only were the days he spent in his new home a funny one, he also managed to get Twilight to be his friend! Now that was a great accomplishment, perhaps now she would be more willing to make more friends.

That smile turned into a frown on their trip, it was all too sudden. The Crystal Empire reappearing after nearly a thousand years, but that was the problem. The Empire shouldn't even be here as King Sombra placed a curse on it. Celestia began to think of theories on how that happened. After a few minutes of thinking, all of them are bad. especially the one where it is connected to the Elements of Harmony.

The Elements of Harmony were the key to banishing both Sombra and Discord. Since Luna is sealed in the moon, that would mean the Elements of Harmony is losing power and the spells casted with it is deteriorating. But most evidence point to that one theory, she just hoped that she is wrong. Severely wrong.

_**BAM! BAM! BAM!**_

The sound of somepony banging on her sound brought her out of her contemplation.

"Princess Celestia! A letter from Princess Cadence came and is marked as "urgent"!" A guard declares.

Hearing that it was from Cadence and was an emergency, Celestia quickly flew to her door and opens it. She sees the two Pegasi guards from yesterday holding a scroll. The princess grabs the scroll and tells them to stay a minute and closes the after they saluted.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Dear Princess Celestia,<strong>_

_**Upon reading this, you might have already guessed the importance of our situation. Just half an hour after being escorted out of the the Crystal Empire, we encountered an injured crystal guard coming toward us, we have been able to get any information for him as he passed out shortly after landing. I fear something more sinister is going on in the Crystal Empire, if what I can assume of Naruto's words.**_

Celestia stops for a minute to think why Cadence would bring Naruto on topic. She now begins to read the letter more thoroughly.

_**He apparently finds a pony that we met yesterday very suspicious as he envisioned "red eyes and green background" There is only one pony you and I both know that has those eyes...**_

Celestia couldn't believe what she was reading, her theory of the elements of harmony losing power sounds more plausible now. After reading the last bits of the letter, which was basically about the stallion that the trio had met and how he might be a possible accomplice of King Sombra and the location of their whereabouts.

"Guards!" She yells and Shooting and Sky came inside. "The two of you are coming with me to the Crystal Empire and meet up with Cadence, my student, and my son."

Princess Celestia and the guards left for the Crystal Empire, but not before telling the other guards to look after the kingdom while they were away. She chose these two for a couple of reason- 1. They have served for years and knows that they are loyal to the kingdom. Second, is that they already met Naruto and would be able to keep an eye on him much closer than the other guards because they would know what to expect from him. Kinda.

They immediately took off to the sky as fast as they could; the wind blowing past them at high speeds and the castle shrinking behind them rapidly. Hopefully, they could make to the Crystal Empire before King Sombra finds them.

* * *

><p>-XXXX-<p>

* * *

><p><em><strong>(With the group)<strong>_

It has been an hour since Cadence had sent the letter to the _Express Mail_ in Canterlot. Now, the trio waits for Princess Celestia to come to them and discuss the situation personally. The guard on their care still hadn't woken up, but Cadence made sure to provide him with as much as care with her limited medicinal knowledge. The driver with them was fast asleep near the carriage-off to the side of the road. Twilight was helping Cadence in any way she can, while Naruto is sitting by the lake eating a bag of grapes that the Princess had given him. It was a good thing that Celestia placed a cooling spell on his fruits to keep them fresh and tasty.

A black figure emerging in the water in front of Naruto. He didn't see this at first as his eyes were closed, enjoying the taste of his grapes. But when he started to hear bubbles in the water. He opened his eyes and saw the black figure grow bigger with each passing second. Feeling curios, Naruto stood up and leaned closer to the black figure. The bubbles started to pop erratically and Naruto slowly backs away from the figure as fear wormed its way into his heart. He was about ask Cadence and Twilight for help, but the bubbles abruptly stopped. He waited for the figure appear or descend back into the depths of the water. He sincerely hoped that whatever it was beneath the water, wasn't hostile or anything.

"Naruto!" Hearing his name being called by Cadence, he turned around and saw Princess Celestia and the two guards who brought him to the hospital descending to the ground near Cadence. He turned back to the water only to not see the figure there.

He shook his head and got up to walk to the other ponies.

Celestia was already talking with Cadence about the situation. "We'll go to the Crystal Empire and see what is happening there. While you three head back to Canterlot and wait for me there."

The three ponies wanted to argue and help her, but she used her magic to teleport them and the carriage to Canterlot. They vanished in a flash of light leaving only hoofprints indicating they were once there. So much for the plan of having the two guards watch over Naruto. Oh well, at least they could help her battle King Sombra or at least that Shadow character.

Celestia walks over to the unconscious Crystal guard and uses magic to heal his bruises, healing him completely.

The guard's eyes slowly opens his eyes and back to the realm of consciousness. He suddenly jumps remembering his mission, he looks at the princess and bows to her. He asks the three ponies to help stop King Sombra from taking over the Crystal Empire once more. She asks about Shadow, and the guards tells her he ambushed him just as he was leaving the Kingdom.

The Princess and three guards flies fast toward the Crystal Empire ready to confront King Sombra and his accomplice.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter End<strong>

**Sorry it took so long, but I had a lot of stuff doing for school and I needed a little break.**

**Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter. The next 2-3 chapters will be the end of the Shadow Arc, and hopefully I could get him to meet the rest of the cast. If you guys have questions, put it in a review or PM me. Either way works.**

**Til next time. XD**


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